The handing over of war criminal Slobodan Milosevic to the UN tribunal in The Hague is a historic event which deserves to be recognized. We celebrate this event not because the former Yugoslav president, known as the Butcher of Balkans, was handed over but because the world community has lately proved its worth regardless of the difficulty of its mission.
Serbs were forced to hand over their president ignominiously handcuffed to stand trial in front of the world, accused of war crimes. We never expected the day would come, for the international community is afraid of trying world leaders because of the risks involved.
Milosevic was a challenge to the world community. His victims were an oppressed minority of Muslims while his support was the international might of Russia. He still wields great support given by Serb nationalists. The world community, this time, did not give up pursuing him, although many years have passed since he committed the crimes in Bosnia and later in Kosovo.
The world community was not satisfied with the concessions, extended by Milosevic and finally by the Belgrade regime, which comprised his removal from power and resignation. It was not even satisfied when the government promised that the former president would stand trial. They maintained that it would be dangerous to hand him over because that will be interpreted as an insult to their government. Others questioned why only Milosevic was being targeted while there are others who have committed more crimes in Iraq, Cambodia and North Korea. Nonetheless, the world powers insisted, contrary to normal practice, that the criminal should not escape punishment. The result was a surprise to everybody including the man’s wife who is accused of shadowing everything he has done.
The importance of this event is that it announces the arrival on the political scene the world community in the form that we hoped for. Finally, it has assumed its full authority and power and decided to try and to convict whoever denies the rights of his people.
The United Nations has declined into such a miserable condition that people have lost their hope in this world body. Leaders commit crimes and atrocities in the absence of any force to stop them. World powers work to protect their interests by denying the rights of smaller nations. This time the prey is big and precious: the Butcher of Balkans, a European, Christian and white with all other characters which are assumed to be protective shields for any person regardless of atrocities he committed.
We, therefore, should not stand as mere spectators of this important event. We should render support to this international movement to make it work for us, not against us.
We should not try to protect and harbor iniquitous leaders on the grounds of his religion or nationality. Anyone who commits crimes against his people or another nation should pay for it. By adopting this role we will protect our region from the criminals who live among us and from those yet to be born.
